News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-01-20

| are driven over the bare earUn- III inc
| closing days of December, to show that this
| Christ is for people in sharp blasts, for peo-
pie of frosted hopes, for people under dark
skies, for people with the thermometer be-
lew zero, for people showed under Christ
| heard in His memory the wind whiStllng
| around the Bethlehem caravansary, and He
| is in sympathy with those who in their pow
| ertY hear the shutters clatter on a cold night.
| That was the Christ Washington and his
army worshippe ed when they lay down without
blankets in the December snow. That was the
Christ that the Pilgrim Fathers appealed to
! when the HdHfOlUeT wharfed at Plymouth
! Rock, and for years after that December
landing the graves digged were more in num-
| Der than the houses built. Not fair weather
Christ, but a December Christ. Oh, the
| world wants to be solaced and sOothed and
lullabied in the arms of sympathetic omnip-
offence and no mother ever with more ten
| derneSS put her foot on the rocker of cradle
to hush a sick child than the tenderness of
this Christ comes to our invalid world, and
| He rocks it into placidity and quiet with the
| words: ''My peace l give unto you; not as
the world giveth, give unto you" Oh, ye
| burden bearers, Oh, We prosecuted and tired
and heartbroken, declare to you Deem
| Der Christ
But here is fact which many seem to for
| get, perhaps all forget-my subject i'm
! presses me with the fact that Christ was
| born amid the sheep and the cattle, and the
| horses, and the camels that He might be the
| alienation of the whole brute creation.
| Mercy for Overdriven, underfed, poorly shell
| tered, outraged brute creation. Do you think
| that the Christ who compared Himself to
a dove has no indignation at the cruelties of
a pigeon shooting: Do you think that the
Christ who compared Himself to a lamb has
no Indignation at the rough tying and the
contortion of the sheep and the hanging of
their neck over the sharp edge of I h butchers
cart, and the cattle train from Omaha to
New York. with no water in summer time,
-l,5OO miles of agony: Do you think that
the Christ who said: Go to the ant" does
not notice the tranShxed lnSectSs DO you
| think that the Christ whose tax was paid by
| the fish does not notice the tossing of a fin in
| the fish market' Do you think that the
| Christ who said: "Behold the fowls of the
| air hath no sympathy with the brute crea-
| ton that cannot articulate its grief? Christ
| born in a stable that He might be the Sa-
| viour, not only of the human race but the
alienation of all the pangs and hardships
| of the brute creation.
| In the millenial time child is to lead a
| lion and to play with a cocatrice only be-
| cause brute and reptile will have no more
| outrageS to avenge. The Lamb of God gave
its first bleat amid the tired flocks of Beth.
lehem. The white horse of eternal victory
stabbed in barn. When you tread on the
brute creation you tread on God. Christ
born amid the beasts that He might sympa-
thize with the beasts and help the beasts, and
thunder His indignation and His wrath
against men who abuse the beasts
mott also. in this wonderful story of the
text three Christmas presents brought to
Christ. Just three. Col I, myrrh, franklin
cense. Gold brought to Christ. What does
that mean. 1t means the affiuence of the
world Is going to be surrendered to Jesus.
For lack of money no more asylums limping
On their way like the invalids they support
or feeling their slow way like the blind whom
they shelter. Millions of dollars for Christ
there are now tho Isands of dollars. Rail-
road companies owned by Christian sto k
holders and controlled by Christian direc-
tors and carrying freights and passengers at
Christian prices. Bank of England Bourse
of Fl ance and U. s. Treasury, all the worlds
moneyed institutions for Christ. The gold
for Christ. No other meaning to it. The
gold no more paid the way for
Mary and Joseph and the divine
refugee in Egypt than the gold shall pay the
way for Christ all round the world The
gold for Christ, the silver for Christ, the
Jewels for Christ. Our great round, beau
tiful world like a solitaire set on the bosom
of Christ. All His, and He is worthy
But the second Christmas present was
snufed it, but did not eat it. 1t
was too bitter. Why the myrrh! Why this
pungent gum resin of Abysinnia brought for
Christ: 1t meant bitterness. Bitterness of
betrayal, bitterness of persecution, bitterness
OF DAYS OF suffering and nights of anguish.
Myrrh. That is what they put into His cup
when He was dying. Myrrh. That is what
the women wrapped in the shroud of the cru
CITED Christ. Myrrh. Aye says the psalmist,
''all thy garments smell of myrrh'' Oh the
heighth, the depth, the length, the breadth
of Saviour's sorrow. No wonder the wise
men brought myrrh. But there was one |
other thing they brought. They shook out |
from the sack the frankincense. Clear up to |
the rafters of the barn the perfume rose and |
it foated out to the furtheSt room, where |
the hostler and the camel drivers were |
placed, and it aoated out into the open |
air, and people passing by that night won |
dered and said, who could have broken a box |
of alabaster at that place by accident, Frank |
incense That was what they put on the cen |
sers in the ancient temple and burned it. |
Frankincense. That means worship. Frank |
cense. That is what shake out from our |
souls this day until the nostrils of Christ
once crfmSOned with the hemOrrhage of the |
cross are filled with the perfume of a worlds |
alteration. trank1ncenSe. That is to till all |
the homes and all the churches and all the |
nations and all the worlds. From deepest |
cellar of stalactite cave clear up to the silver
rafters of the sunlit dome. Frankincense.
Put it in the song, and the sermon, and the |
prayer. Frankincense. No wonder they |
brought it. No wonder they put it down at
the feet of Christ But do you know |
how these eensers were employed,
handle by which it is held. This metal pan
is filed with living Goals On the top of it is
put perforated cover. The frankincenSe Is
brought to the temple in q square box. The |
tIaQklEC6nSe IS taken out anu over
the Goals, and then the perforated cover is
put on, and thew wait fer the beginning |
Of the service. When they are all ready
Ill the covers are lifted from all the censers
and the ancient temple was filled with the
perfume. 1t foated up amid the arches, it |
dropped amid the affairs. On the top of the |
temple it arose in column to the throne of
IOd. And so it is to-day. l have two
,ensers. Here is the censor of earthly frank
incense and here is the censor of heavenly |
First of all, the censor of earth
Y frankincense. Come, people of God, and |
put on it your thanks-thanks for the mer-
les of the past year, thanks for the mercies
If all the years-individual mercies, family
nercies, national mercies. Bring on more
'ensers. Then let the perfume float uD to
he throne OF God Allelnia, alleluia Amen!
But here is the other censer-the censor of
Heavenly frankincense. Let all the re-
leemed bring their thanks and put them
IN this censor. Let the cherubim bring
heirs, let the seraphim bring theirs let the
one hundred and forty and four thousand
bring theirs, let all the eternities bring theirs
an1 then / take these two censers and Iswing
hem before the throne of God and the
Lamb, and then l clash them together in one
great alleluia unto him to whom the wise
men of the East brought their gold and
nyrrh and franzincense when the star that
they saw in the East went before them.